Dengue fever infection has afflicted thousands of young and old Filipinos every year. Inspite of community and health authorities efforts to combat it, it has become a menace to a lot families in urban and rural areas.

There are several strategies of combating Dengue fever ,the DOH 4S Kontra Dengue strategy is composed of Search and Destroy, Seek early consultation, Self-protective measures and Say no to indiscriminate fogging.

Another innovative strategy is Mosquito Ovicidal/ Larvicidal Trap system, developed by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST).

The DOST-developed Mosquito OL Trap has three important parts: a black container, a small strip of wood (lawanit) for mosquitoes to lay their eggs on, and a larvicide solution. The scent of the larvicide solution attracts female mosquitoes and encourages them to lay eggs on the immersed lawanit strip. Once exposed to the solution, the eggs and hatched larvae will die. The DOST Mosquito OL Trap prevents the next generation of mosquitoes from reaching adulthood and curbs the Aedes Aegypti mosquito population.

Thus, DOST in partnership with DOH and DepEd will distribute DOST mosquito OL Trap to all classrooms of both public and private schools in areas with high dengue cases in the metro.

According to the DOST website, some 34,910 DOST Mosquito OL Trap kits will be distributed to 17,454 classrooms in public and private elementary and secondary schools in Caloocan, Quezon City, Pasay, Valenzuela, Manila, Muntinlupa, and Pasig.

1. Pour tap water into the black plastic cup until the lined mark just above the printed DOST logo. This volume is equivalent to 250 milliliters (ml).
2. Pour one pack of OL pellets into the plastic cup.
3. Place the lawanit stick in the solution with the rough surface facing up.
4. Put the plastic cup outside the house in a low-lying area protected from the sun and rainfall. Take care not to spill the contents. Keep out of reach of children and animals.
5. Let the cup stand for six (6) days.
6. After six days, gently brush off into the solution the mosquito eggs stuck on the lawanit strip. A used toothbrush will do the trick, but make sure that all the mosquito eggs drop into the solution.
7. Pour hot water into the solution until the cup is almost filled.
8. Dispose all the liquid contents of the cup down the drain.
9. Repeat steps 1 to 9 weekly for six (6) months.

My hectic schedule does not allow me to go around shopping centers and mall, but I always have the time to go to supermarkets and groceries at least three times a week for food and household necessities.

I thought I might as well write about my supermarket experiences since doing this chore is always part of my weekly activities. I don’t buy in bulk; I buy what is just needed at home for the week because I don’t have a big stocking area at home.

Since my work is in different places at any given day of the week, I have the privilege to go to several supermarkets. Supermarkets that I go to are the following SM MOA ,Robinsons Ermita Supermarket, Parco Caloocan and Quezon Ave , SM Cubao Supermarket, Shopwise Cubao and Libis, Rustans’s Farmers Cubao, S &R Munoz, Global City and Aseana, PC Supermarket Pioneer, Puregold Cubao , Ermita and Caloocan, CVC and Grand Central Supermarkets in Caloocan.

If others are shopaholics, I think I am a supermarket roamer. I started doing the groceries for the family when I was 17 y/o, my mom would have a list and give me the money to pass by the grocery on my way home. Maybe my liking for supermarkets was due to the fact that we have a “sari-sari “ store during my school age years and I was tasked to help tend the store for sometime.

Which is my favorite among the supermarkets? Each has its own unique feature in the sense that what I buy in one supermarket may not be available in another or it depends on where I am at a particular day of the week. I am not particular of the prices since most of the time they vary from one store to another. My main concern is the wide array of products available and the convenience like wide hallways, store hours,working pushcarts, fast counter check out and courteous employees.

The next local nursing board examinations for nursing will be on the last week of November 2009. I took my nursing board examinations in December 2003. I have been teaching nursing students since 2005 and as I read board examination review questions, I find them at times hard for me to answer even if I have taught most of the major subjects in nursing care management.

Staying focus and being diligent in reading review questions is one of the main keys in preparing yourself for the local nursing board examinations. Its like exercising your mind everyday to read nursing board type examination questions because on the day of the exam itself you will probably tackle at least 500 questions in a span of 6-8 hours. At the same time analyze each question in choosing the best answer.

You have to get used to it, which is reading and analyzing questions. Take this practice everyday, 100 questions in a span of 1- and a half hour or 9o minutes, an average of answering one question per minute.

For now, I think it is the best you can do, answering and analyzing board examination type questions, rather than reading lecture notes. Application of test taking strategies will also be of help.

For more local board examination tips, take this from littlenars.com , a June 2009 board passer.

Both the novel and the movie really hit it big in the Philippines. The movie earned about $158.4 million after 3 weeks of showing. Books of Twilight almost run out at Fully Booked, it was their top bestseller for more than 3 months. It is a teen film, a story about vampire romance, Bella, a human falls in love with Edward, a vampire. This is a Stephanie Meyer novel , who authored the 4 Twilight saga namely

• Twilight (The Twilight Saga, Book 1)
• New Moon (The Twilight Saga, Book 2)
• Eclipse (The Twilight Saga, Book 3)
• Breaking Dawn (The Twilight Saga, Book 4)

Some 50 million copies of the books have been sold worldwide and the series has been translated into over 20 different languages according to Wikipedia. Other sources says that the four Twilight books have been sold in more than 25 million copies worldwide and 20 million of them have been sold in the USA alone.
Taking a cue from this phenomenon, ABS CBN is allegedly going to produced a Pinoy version of Twilight entitled Takipsilim ( Filipino translation of Twilight).

Starring Rayver Cruz as Edward Cullen and Shaina Magdayao as Isabella Swan. News of the Takipsilim, alerted the Filipino Twilight fans, many blogs featured the announcement of ABS CBN, and so many reacted negatively and some the wait and see attitude. The reactions were more about who will play the lead roles. I am sure no matter who the actors are, we will still be curious about the tele-movie, we will still watch, because we have fallen in love with the romance story.

But again, latest news says the Twilight Pinoy version is a hoax. If the production pushes through, let us not compare, because the tele-movie will be an “epic fail” for sure, when we try to expect what was depicted in the original movie or in the novel itself. I am sure there will changes and the Filipino way of love story will be an added attraction. “Kilig “ factor will still be there guys!

Don’t react too violently, lets see. Give a chance to Takipsilim (if there is will be one), the Twilight Pinoy Version !Its Entertainment , Its show Business!